Art distortion and fajita portions.

May 10, 2008

Sorry for the delay! I have been busy/sleeping/without internet for awhile. Let’s see, it started to rain here in Madrid on Thursday morning and since then the weather has continued to be grey and cold.  On Thursday I decided to go out and about by myself in search for a cell phone.  While on my quest, I stumbled upon the Thyssen-Bornemisza art gallery and I decided that it would be more rewarding to see the featured works of Modigliani than to purchase a phone. If you’re not familiar with Modigliani’s work – you need to become familiar – he’s a weirdo! Haha. He mostly did portraits, but not just any kind of portraits; he usually skewed the faces and emphasized real human sitting behavior positions.  I especially like that the eyes in most of his portraits are blacked out or smeared, giving this hollow, imaginary look. I was kind of reminded of the art in the movie James and the Giant Peach…

Also among his paintings were his early sketches of friends. Yeah, Picasso was in there along with other fellow artists.  Isn’t it amazing how people can get together to create art movements/schools of thought?  Yes, I think so too.

Thursday night I went out to the JOY club with some Americans, an English girl, and a German boy. It was international student night - so the place was packed (and I do mean packed).  The building looks like it was an old theatre that was renovated to be a hoppin’ club. In the what-was-once-the-auditorium is now the dance floor and the stage now holds many pin-up girls and drag queens.  After listening to Kylie Minogue and the YMCA, I retired for the night and surprisingly was able to wake up for school the next morning.  

And then for Friday: After succeeding in my cell phone purchase, I went out to a Mexican dinner with the gang + my German friend's German friends.  Following the delicious dinner, we headed out to the Gran Via (the highway of the city – a very busy street) and then to Malasana area for a few drinks. It is probably the grungiest area of the city and so it is very unintended for tourists (and so it is also very cheap).  When brainstorming for bars to go to in the area, my friend asked me “Do you want to go to the Milky Way Galaxy?” and I responded “Didn’t you know? We’re already in the Milky Way.”  Subsequently, we walked to the Milky Way Galaxy.  It is a punk bar with punk posters on all the walls and 80’s lights in every corner.  How can a light be 80’s you ask? Well you’ll just have to go there to find out for yourself.